Welcome!

On a journey, ill, and over withered fields/my dreams go wandering -Basho

I am glad to be here and delighted to have the chance to share my thoughts and my writing with all of you. Pull up a chair and watch out for the kettle- he’s a little huffy.

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If you’re looking for my books, they’re over here.

If you want to know when a new book will be released, you can sign up for my mailing list here.

If you want to contact me directly, check over here.

If you want a deeper look into how and why I write, take a look at my posts below.

The Darling Buds – Lily

we smuggled tiger lilies

when we moved

confidently planting our

flags of vibrant triumph

in new fertile soil

 

less triumphant

we bought the next ones

local – adapted to the climate

of somewhere that was not

our garden

friends got involved – determined

by honor to share a hundred years

of survival and vibrancy that made

excellent mulch

it was our honor to announce

that really

we only liked day

lilies anyways

Lily – Honor

Every May (and sometimes into June), I do a series of poems based on Victorian flower meanings. Welcome to the Darling Buds.

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For more honor (and even more Honor), my fantasy novel, The Guests of Honor, is available here. Its sequel, With Honor Intact, can be found here.

The Darling Buds- Geranium

This is not

a poem about roses

even though I tried to grow

them – too cold

they said and I closed my

ears and grabbed more

shovels

the third dead rose bush

only provided mulch

for the fourth

 

digging up is hard

 

when I found myself watching late

night infomercials and taking

notes on magical growth remedies I

took a deep breath

and spoke to my

mother

I try to pretend that the

geraniums

don’t look smug

Geranium- Stupidity

Every May (and sometimes into June), I do a series of poems based on Victorian flower meanings. Welcome to the Darling Buds.

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For more stupidity (and occasional genius), my fantasy novel, The Guests of Honor, is available here. Its sequel, With Honor Intact, can be found here.

 

The Darling Buds – Violet

there is always an uneasy truce

between

small black cats who

love flowers almost as much

as making closed doors open

and our larger dreams of rich blossoms

and unshattered pottery

watch

wait

black cats with patience

smokelike

emerging triumphant

curled behind the locked

door in a pot

of african violets

Violet – Watchfulness

Every May (and sometimes into June), I do a series of poems based on Victorian flower meanings. Welcome to the Darling Buds.

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For more watchfulness (or lack of watchfulness), my fantasy novel, The Guests of Honor, is available here. Its sequel, With Honor Intact, can be found here.

The Darling Buds- Gladiolus

When my grandmother grew too

everything

to garden

we would sneak into her yard and

carefully plant flowers that would

appear miraculously

when she looked out her window

we became ambitious – not

just the instant blooms but an

entire spread of bulbs to outwait

the cold in her bones and heart

in spring

there was nothing

only the tunnels of fat voles

rich on our

generosity

Gladiolus – Generosity

Every May (and sometimes into June), I do a series of poems based on Victorian flower meanings. Welcome to the Darling Buds.

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For more generosity (and lack of generosity), my fantasy novel, The Guests of Honor, is available here. Its sequel, With Honor Intact, can be found here.

Celebration

catch the sky as

it passes

sew it into a rich tapestry

throw it out over

the arteries the heartbeat

of rivers of mountains

of forests

press your fingers against your

own song and

rejoice

Sing out

Happy Canada Day.

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For more celebration, my fantasy novel, The Guests of Honor, is available here. Its sequel, With Honor Intact, can be found here.

The Darling Buds – Begonia

at the edge of sleep

the fine line of morning

blossoms unfurl gently

dreaming of the taste of summer

dreaming of the brush of snow

Begonia – A Fanciful Nature

Every May (and sometimes into June), I do a series of poems based on Victorian flower meanings. Welcome to the Darling Buds.

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For more flights of fancy, my fantasy novel, The Guests of Honor, is available here. Its sequel, With Honor Intact, can be found here.

The Darling Buds – Sunflower

At the edges of the mountains

the bones of old pulleys

graves of dead sluices

are piled underneath layers

of rockfall and regrowth

machinery of the gold-that-wasn’t

the people with fools’ dreams

left nothing of themselves

sometimes though

in the skeletons of old cabins

we children were never meant

to find

we would pull out old sunflower labels

from under the floorboards

the only gold that

any of us ever

found

Sunflower – False Riches

Every May, I do a series of poems based on Victorian flower meanings. Welcome to the Darling Buds.

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For more deceptive treasure, my fantasy novel, The Guests of Honor, is available here. Its sequel, With Honor Intact, can be found here.

The Darling Buds – Primrose

The burnt timbers of the basement

were overgrown with grass and

alder but still her garden remained

amidst the encroaching forest

that last piece of the tame world

she had left

of visions of tea and gentle

conversation a burst of

defiant colour of bold

order spreading in the shadow

of a chaos she had never

chosen

Primrose – Woman

Every May, I do a series of poems based on Victorian flower meanings. Welcome to the Darling Buds.

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For more women and persistence of women, my fantasy novel, The Guests of Honor, is available here. Its sequel, With Honor Intact, can be found here.

The Darling Buds – Spring Crocus

As a small child

I did not understand

the connection between

the cold bulbs deeply buried as

the fall died

and the vibrant burst of life

as spring fought free of

the snow

all I knew was that

as the sun warmed

the world was painted fresh

and I could lie amongst the new

life and be

glad

Spring Crocus – Youthful Gladness

Every May, I do a series of poems based on Victorian flower meanings. Welcome to the Darling Buds.

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For more youthful energy, my fantasy novel, The Guests of Honor, is available here. Its sequel, With Honor Intact, can be found here.

Unstoppable

The water waits

for no one

mountains crumble

under machines and time and

the rivers carry the

remains to the ocean

the old canneries sink

into the estuaries and

and the water still calls

the salmon home

our nets catch

not only fish but something larger

and as they are tossed onto the

shorelines they

briefly hold a piece

of eternity

We can only hope to build something to briefly meet the power of forever

I sometimes think that our best creations as people are those that are flexible enough to acknowledge their (and our) temporary place in the larger world.

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For more innovation in the face of inevitability, The Guests of Honor, is available here. Its sequel, With Honor Intact, can be found here.